Security Lockdown!

Big security player, Symantec started selling managed security services in early 2003 and partner-wise, initially went down the telecommunications path signing up the likes of Optus and Macquarie to sell the service.

A year earlier, it had also spent US$145 million to acquire MSSP Riptech and with that acquisition came a partner program.

David Blackman, national VAR sales manager, says telcos are primarily focused on selling data and voice, not managed services, which presents a big opportunity for the channel. The telecommunications companies don't necessarily get it, he says.

Security and is extremely labour-intensive and expensive, Blackman says. 'If you have one firewall, one intrusion detection system, it could bring you [as a customer], one million log files every month. You would need five people to manage that full time. With one million logs, you could potentially have two serious threats. It's like finding a needle in a haystack.'

Therefore, for the channel partner, it's is a great business from a customer 'stick' point of view, he says. This nice thing about [offering] a managed service is that it's a monthly recurring revenue [stream]. You could sign a three year contract [with a customer] and people will know that they need you.'

Still, there's a huge learning curve involved in becoming an MSSP and the Australian market is behind other markets around the world such as Europe.

'In Europe, the channel and customers are much more educated about outsourcing security,' he says, adding that in Australia, we are behind in terms of channel training. We're [Symantec] investing heavily in training but it will take a lot of time,' he says.

Service provider SecureTel has been in managed security for the past five years and has built a successful business around it and brands itself as a secure ISP with upwards of 500 customers. These companies are under contract for everything from security packet filtering through to intrusion detection.

David Stevens, MD at SecureTel, says offering managed security is 'bulletproof' revenue-wise. 'We've got the voice, WAN and ad-on products and it's 100 percent recurring in its nature.

He agrees that it's a difficult market to play in given that threats are always changing. 'But the value proposition to the client doesn't change at all,' he says. 'It's all about scalability in this market too – you need to put the biggest and the best kit in place.'